Zhizhi came down the stairs with a toy car model thunk thunk thunking, and when he saw Xi Nian, his eyes blinked several times.
He stood at the top of the stairs, somewhat disbelieving what he saw, so he turned to look at his mom and dad. "Mom, Dad, wasn’t great-uncle sick?"
No one had told him about this; he must have seen it in the news. Not wanting to use those not so nice words, he’d found a different way to ask.
Yuran waved at him. "Baby, come over and say hello to great-uncle."
Zhizhi quickly ran over. His large, dark eyes looked Xi Nian up and down, circling him as Xi Nian opened his arms to him. "Baby, come here, let great-uncle give you a hug."
Zhizhi stepped out from Yuran’s embrace and walked a few steps toward Xi Nian. Xi Nian reached out his arm, and Zhizhi happily collapsed into his arms, even pinching Xi Nian’s arm. "Great-uncle, the TV said you were injured, and to see you’re not hurt now is just wonderful."
Xi Nian smiled, pinched his tender cheek, and asked, "Were you worried about great-uncle?"
Zhizhi nodded shyly. "I’m glad great-uncle is okay. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I want you healthy and well."
Xi Nian felt extra warm inside and pinched Zhizhi’s cheek again. "You’re that worried about great-uncle?"
Zhizhi’s face was serious. "Of course, you’re my great-uncle. I have to worry."
While touching Xi Nian’s firm chest muscles, Zhizhi asked with regret on his face, "Now that great-uncle is okay, that’s really great. Are you going to sleep over at our house?"
Yuran smiled and shook her head. "Great-uncle can’t sleep over at our house."
Yuran said, "Because great-uncle has other things to do. He’s been planning something for a long time, and if he sleeps over at our house now, it would all be for nothing. It’s like when Zhizhi plans to finish building a Lego set, but right when it’s about to be completed, someone destroys it. Would Zhizhi be happy?"
Zhizhi shook his head.
Yuran explained, "If great-uncle doesn’t complete his task properly, he’ll feel just like Zhizhi does when building Lego."
Zhizhi, holding Xi Nian’s arm with a look of pity, said, "Great-uncle, then you should go. I’ll miss you, but after you’ve finished your work, come and play with Zhizhi."
Xi Nian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Okay, great-uncle will remember that."
After having dinner with Yuran and Bo Yan at Platinum Imperial Palace, Xi Nian left. Before leaving, standing at the doorway with his hand on the door lock, he turned around to look at Yuran. "Ranran, tell Beibei I’m sorry. It’s my fault that..."
That so many frustrating things had happened.
Otherwise, she would not have been wronged at all.
Yuran shook her head. "Blaming yourself is pointless. Now, both Qiuyan and I just hope that all of this will be over soon."
Xi Nian nodded. "It will be over soon. Don’t worry."
Qi Younian was stubbornly refusing to leave the hospital, and on the day of his discharge, coincidentally, "City of Temptation" and "Miss Rose" were premiering. Once Catherine left the country and without her dramatic maneuvering, the opening day box office for "Miss Rose" was still pretty decent.
At this time, the wager agreement Xi Nian once had with Xi Gu was mentioned again.
"Did anyone go see ’Miss Rose’ and ’City of Temptation’ today?"
"Same question. Between the two movies, which one is better? Share your experiences, so we all can know. I don’t want to waste money on a bad movie ticket."
"I watched ’Miss Rose,’ the morning eight o’clock show. To be honest, the story is pretty average. It’s supposed to be set in the most chaotic era of the nation, and although the actors’ performances were great, there were many parts that didn’t make sense. For example, Miss Rose clearly destroyed the radio when the enemy infiltrated, but the underground resistance still got the message? Who sent it? Miss Rose nearly got exposed many times, and anyone with common sense would have their doubts. But with the dramatic plot, I’m left speechless. You should all check it out for yourselves."
"Do you know? Just by her beauty alone, Miss Rose managed to thrive among all sorts of power figures. Does that make sense?"
"Although I concede that beauty can mislead, it’s not to the extent of deceiving for decades. That’s just too damn unconvincing."
"Yep, I agree with the points made above. I went to see ’Miss Rose’ because of the international superstar’s fame. As the person above said, although the actors’ performances were great, the storyline was too awkward. I was restless throughout the whole movie."